1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydrogel-driven micropump, particularly to a hydrogel-driven micropump.
2. Description of Related Art
A small-scale fluid system mainly comprises a micropump, a microvalve, a flow rate meter, a microchannel, and a fluid mixing device. Using a micromechanical process and technique (MEMS), various small-scale fluid driving chips are produced for applications in biotechnology, for portable environmental detection devices, precise flow control or fluid driving systems, following a tendency to ever smaller dimensions. Micropumps are important components of small-scale fluid systems for driving fluid and have been used in conjunction with micro total analysis systems (μTAS), lab-on-chips, medicine dosers and biochip systems.
For producing micropumps, various novel materials and working techniques have been tried and have led to a large variety of designs, such as electromagnetic, electrostatic, piezoelectric, form-remembering alloy and double-metal micropumps. Table 1 shows properties of these designs.
TABLE 1MaximumFlow rateVoltagepowerConsumptionpressureType(μl/min)(V)(mW)(Kpa)piezoelectric1300160—90piezoelectric40100—15electrostatic850200131Warm flow34620004electromagnetic203900—double metal4316——Memory alloy50—6300.52
Each of the various designs for micropumps have shortcomings, such as high working voltage or high power consumption. A high working voltage requires a complicated power supply, which does not fit into a portable device, making control and detection applications hard to implement, so that applications are limited.